Report: UTM Campus Affairs Committee - February 09, 2022

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Via Virtual Meeting room

 


REPORT NUMBER 51 OF THE CAMPUS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

FEBRUARY 9, 2022
 

To the Campus Council, University of Toronto Mississauga,

Your Committee reports that it held a meeting on February 9, 2022 at 3:10 p.m. via a Virtual Meeting Room.

Present:
Robert Gerlai (Chair), Rafael Chiuzi (Vice-Chair), Alexandra Gillespie (Vice-President & Principal), Rhonda McEwen (Vice-Principal Academic and Dean), Susan Senese (Interim Chief Administrative Officer), Mark Overton (Dean of Student Affairs), Lee Bailey, Jenny Cui, Dario Di Censo, Melissa Gniadek, Adriana Grimaldi, Jessica Hanley, Shelley Hawrychuk, Yuhong He, Ashley Monks, Hans van Monsjou, Jay Nirula, James Parker, Jessica Silver, Laura Taylor, Fatima Yakubi

Non-Voting Assessors:
Luke Barber (Executive Director, I&ITS and FM&P), Andrea Carter (Assistant Dean, Student Wellness, Support & Success), Christine Esteban (Executive Director, Budget, planning & Finance)
Regrets: Nagham Abdalahad, Diana Aldaz, Layana Alnabhan, Esther Baffour, Claudiu Gradinaru, Sam Hosn, Pinar Kahraman, Stephanie Santos, Evan Silva

In Attendance:
Melinda Scott, (Director, Office of the Vice-Provost, Students and Student Policy Advisor), Josh Hass (Coordinator, Student Policy Initiatives), Megan Evans (Manager, Parking & Transportation Services), Salma Fakhry (Chair, Quality Service to Students, QSS), Renu Kanga Fonseca (Director, Strategy & Sport Wellness), Antonia Lo (Assistant Director, Student Services & Ancillaries), Felicity Morgan (Director, Career Centre), Veronica Vasquez (Director, International Education Centre)

Secretariat:
Cindy Ferencz Hammond (Assistant Secretary of the Governing Council)


  1. Chair’s Remarks

    The Chair welcomed members and guests to the meeting and reminded members about the ongoing governance elections in the Undergraduate student, administrative staff and teaching staff constituencies of the Campus Affairs Committee. He encouraged those eligible to participate in voting and reminded everyone that voting would be open until Friday, February 18, 2022.
     
  2. Compulsory Non-Academic Incidental Fees: Report and Analysis for 2021-22

    The Chair advised members that this item was presented for information and invited Dr. Melinda Scott, Director, Office of the Vice-Provost, Students and Student Policy Advisor, to provide her report. Dr. Scott offered a presentation that provided a brief overview of the Annual Report. She noted that the Policy for Compulsory Non-Academic Incidental Fees specified the requirements and conditions associated with the fees and the manner in which they were charged.

    Dr. Scott reminded members that in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, campus services and student societies were invited to review their programming and services and consider temporary reductions to their fees. She noted that those temporary fee reductions were previously reported to governance and were reflected in the annual report. She referred members to the documentation, which included the original fees as well as the fees reduced in response to COVID-19, which were primarily for the 2020- 21 academic year.

    Moving to the annual report, Dr. Scott explained that it provided divisional fee information for UTM campus service fees (student services, Health Services, Athletics & Recreation), fees for cross divisional student societies, such as for the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students for example and divisional fees, such as those for the University of Toronto Mississauga Student Union and for the UTM Association of Graduate Students (UTMAGS), among others. She noted that the data included in the presentation was for the current academic year and reflected the original unreduced fees. Schedule one provided details of the designated portions of student society fees and indicated where funds were refundable or where a referendum was required to continue the fee.

    Schedule two provided details of the campus service fees. She explained that the University collected compulsory non-academic incidental fees on behalf of UTM student societies and noted that membership in these societies was automatic.

    In her presentation, Dr. Scott provided examples of these fees for full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate students for 2021-22 and a comparison chart of these fees among divisions at the University. She pointed to the cross divisional student society fees for graduate students and explained that the difference in the fees between undergraduate and graduate students represented the difference in the health and dental plans between the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students and the University of Toronto Graduate Student Union. She emphasized that both of those fees were optional, so students could opt out of them if they had other comparable coverage. She also pointed out that the UTMAGS divisional fee reflected the inclusion of the U-Pass fee.
     
  3. Operating Plans and Fees: UTM Student Affairs and Services for 2022-23

    The Chair advised members that pursuant to The Memorandum of Agreement Between the University of Toronto, The Students’ Administrative Council, The Graduate Students’ Union and The Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students for a Long-Term Protocol on the Increase of Introduction of Compulsory Non-Tuition Related Fees (The Protocol) approved by the Governing Council on October 24, 1996, the UTM Quality Service to Students committee (QSS) reviewed annual operating plans of fee-funded student services, including current and proposed future budgets and related compulsory non-academic incidental fees and would then offer advice to the Committee on those plans. The Chair invited Mr. Mark Overton, Dean of Student Affairs, to present the advice shared from QSS.
    1. Advice from the Quality Service to Students Committee (QSS)

      As per The Protocol, Mr. Overton noted that student input was provided in relation to compulsory non- academic incidental fees through consultations with QSS, which was composed of administrative staff and a majority of student members. He explained that QSS held a formal vote on three items under the Protocol: Health Services, Athletics & Recreation, and then a bundle of the subcomponents of the Student Services fee. QSS held multiple open meetings on the significant components of the budgets of these services, led by the relevant department directors and managers. He invited Ms Salma Fakhry, Chair of QSS to report on that group’s deliberations.

      Ms Fakhry reported that QSS endorsed the Health Services fee, but did not endorse the Athletics and Recreation and the Student Services fees. The resulting unendorsed fees that were brought forward for the consideration of the CAC, were within the amounts allowed by the Protocol. Ms Fakhry explained that the single comment offered by QSS on all three fees was that students did appreciate the services and programs offered, but felt that the related costs presented a significant burden to students and suggested that the University find other sources of funding for these services.

       
    2. Operating Plans and Fees for 2022-23

Mr. Overton summarized the three fee categories and showed the current fees, the proposed fees, and a reference point, which was the maximum the services could have sought based on the Protocol’s rules. He referred members to the detailed operating plans and rationales for the proposed fees in Health Services, Athletics & Recreation as well as the Student Services Fee category based on student feedback and consultation. He thanked the directors of the various Student Services areas and their teams for the work they do to support the student experience and student learning. He noted that the administration was seeking either no increase from the previous year, as was the case for Health Services and Athletics & Recreation, or as in the case of the student services fee bundle, an increase that was much lower than the maximum allowed.

A member asked about the main concern expressed by QSS and whether it was related to service levels. Mr. Overton explained that the feedback received during the consultation discussions was that while students valued the services offered, any increase in fees resulted in a financial challenge.

On motion duly made, seconded and carried, YOUR COMMITTEE RECOMMENDED,
THAT the 2022-23 operating plans and budgets for the UTM Health & Counselling Centre; the UTM Department of Recreation, Athletics & Wellness; and the UTM Student Services under the Student Services Fee, recommended by the Dean of Student Affairs, Mark Overton, and described in the attached proposals, be approved; and

THAT the sessional Health Services Fee for a UTM-registered or UTM-affiliated full-time student be unchanged at $60.15 per session ($12.03 for a part-time student), and
 
THAT the sessional Athletics & Recreation Fee for a UTM-registered or UTM-affiliated full- time student be unchanged at $205.88 per session ($41.18 for a part-time student), and

THAT the sessional Student Services Fee for a UTM-registered or UTM-affiliated full-time student be increased to $214.67 per session ($42.93 for a part-time student), which represents a year-over-year increase of $4.31 per session ($0.86 for a part-time student) or 2%.

  1. Compulsory Non-Academic Incidental Fees: UTM Student Societies - Proposals for Fee Increases for 2022-23

    The Chair noted that student society fees were subject to the terms and conditions of the Policy on Ancillary Fees and the Policy for Compulsory Non-Academic Incidental Fees. He invited Mr. Overton to speak to the matter. Mr. Overton advised members that the fee increases requested by student societies adhered to the appropriate processes. He further explained that the primary element of both of these societies’ fees was the annual increase in the cost of the U-Pass, which was the universal transit pass provided in cooperation with the City of Mississauga that allowed for fare-free use of Mississauga Transit by UTM students.

    On motion duly moved, seconded, and carried YOUR COMMITTEE RECOMMENDED

    THAT subject to confirmation of approval of the following fee change proposals by the UTMAGS Executive Committee,

    THAT, beginning in the Fall 2022 session, the University of Toronto Mississauga Association of Graduate Students (UTMAGS) fee be increased as follows: (a) an increase of $7.01 per Fall and Winter sessions (full-time and part-time) in the Mississauga Transit U-Pass portion of the fee and (b) an increase of $4.27 per Fall session and $4.28 per Winter session (full-time and part-time) in the Mississauga Transit Summer U-Pass portion of the fee1.

    If approved, the total Fall/Winter UTMAGS fee will be $236.89 per session, charged to all UTM- affiliated graduate students.

    Be it also Recommended,

    THAT, beginning in the Summer 2022 session, the University of Toronto Mississauga Student Union (UTMSU; legally, the Erindale College Student Union) fee be modified as follows: (a) an increase of

    $9.16 per Summer session (full-time and part-time) in the Mississauga Transit U-Pass portion of the fee;

    THAT, beginning in the Fall 2022 session, the UTMSU fee be modified as follows: (a) an increase of

    $1.85 per session ($0.06 part-time) in the society portion of the fee, (b) an increase of up to $10.21 per

1 Further to UTMAGS’ request, Mississauga Transit U-Pass fees will not be charged to Master of Forensic Accounting (MFAcc) and Master of Management and Professional Accounting (MMPA) students.


Fall and Winter sessions (full-time only) in the Health Plan portion of the fee, (c) an increase of up to $8.53 per Fall and Winter sessions (full-time only) in the Dental Plan portion of the fee, (d) an increase of $6.89 per Fall and Winter sessions (full-time and part-time) in the Mississauga Transit U-Pass portion of the fee, (e) an increase of $0.06 per session (full-time and part-time) in the Academic Societies portion of the fee, (f) an increase of $0.41 per session (full-time only) in the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) portion of the fee, (g) an increase of $0.06 per session (full-time only) in the Downtown Legal Services portion of the fee, (h) an increase of $0.03 per session (full-time and part-time) in the Food Bank portion of the fee, (i) an increase of $0.03 per session (full-time and part- time) in the On-Campus First Aid Emergency Response portion of the fee, and (j) an increase of $0.10 per Fall and Winter sessions ($0.06 part-time) and $0.04 per Summer session (full-time only) in the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) Levy portion of the fee; and

THAT subject to confirmation of approval of the following fee change proposals by the UTMSU Board of Directors,

THAT, beginning in the Fall 2022 session, the UTMSU fee charged to Mississauga Academy of Medicine (MAM) students in the Fall and Winter sessions be increased as follows: (a) an increase of up to $8.08 per Fall and Winter sessions in the Mississauga Transit Summer U-Pass portion of the fee.

If approved, the total Fall/Winter UTMSU fee will be up to $425.58 per session ($157.94 part-time), charged to all UTM undergraduate students. The total Fall/Winter UTMSU fee for MAM students will be up to $523.42 per session.

  1. Reports of the Presidential Assessors

    The Vice-President & Principal commented on the huge joy it had been to witness the return to on- campus instruction since February 7, 2022. She noted that thus far safety protocols had been working well and expressed her thanks to the student services team for their work in ensuring that students were well supported during the return to more in-person activities.

    In her update, the Chief Administrative Officer reported on the progress of the Science building. She noted that construction on the building was progressing well and that the exterior cladding was almost complete. Ms Senese also reported that construction on the Student Services Hub (SSH), which had recently been approved by governance and which would bring together student services under one area, would begin soon. She also reported that detailed planned for a new residence building was underway.

CONSENT AGENDA

On motion duly moved, seconded, and carried YOUR COMMITTEE APPROVED
THAT the consent agenda be adopted and that Item 7 - Report of the Previous Meeting, be approved.

  1. Report on Capital Projects – as at January 31, 2022
     
  2. Report of the Previous Meeting: Report 50

    Report number 50, dated January 10, 2022, was approved.
     
  3. Business Arising from the Report of the Previous Meeting
     
  4. Date of Next Meeting – March 23, 2022 at 3:10 p.m.
     
  5. Other Business

    There was no other business.
     

The meeting was adjourned at 3:52 p.m.

February 14, 2022